Never get hugely impressed with this kinda thing. He tries so many, with the majority missing by a mile, that he's boud to get one or two over every now and then. There's no denying he's got a massive boot (and he's a great talent), but still thinks he needs to stop attempting them so often.

I personally found Halfpenny's penalty kick from around the same distance v Munster even more impressive, since it was in the dying minutes of the match to clinch victory by a point.

Hopefully no offence taken by anyone, don't want this thread turning into the one with stein boy.....

Never get hugely impressed with this kinda thing. He tries so many, with the majority missing by a mile, that he's boud to get one or two over every now and then. There's no denying he's got a massive boot (and he's a great talent), but still thinks he needs to stop attempting them so often.

I personally found Halfpenny's penalty kick from around the same distance v Munster even more impressive, since it was in the dying minutes of the match to clinch victory by a point.

Hopefully no offence taken by anyone, don't want this thread turning into the one with stein boy.....

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True - this is the 5th one I've seen.

One against the Blues, Western Force, Cheetahs, and I saw him do one against Australia in 2007 where he did one on a huge angle to make it at least a 50m droppie.

The fact of the matter is, everytime he has landed one like this one, the opposition have kicked the ball out of there own 22 in the hopes of sending it down town, Steyn picks it up and takes an easy 3 points.

So no harm done when he tries these sort of drop goals - unless of course he could have started a counter attack but at least this way he got away with some points for his team.

Never get hugely impressed with this kinda thing. He tries so many, with the majority missing by a mile, that he's boud to get one or two over every now and then. There's no denying he's got a massive boot (and he's a great talent), but still thinks he needs to stop attempting them so often.

I personally found Halfpenny's penalty kick from around the same distance v Munster even more impressive, since it was in the dying minutes of the match to clinch victory by a point.

Hopefully no offence taken by anyone, don't want this thread turning into the one with stein boy.....

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I disagree..
He takes those pot shots when there is nothing else really on, he either banks 3 points for his team or the opposition have a 22 drop out and its back to the same position, no harm done. Why should he stop attempting them? its low risk high reward.
As for a penalty goal being more impressive.. there are scores of people around that, when given the time to gather themselves and focus on their technique they could bang over a penalty kick, dying minutes or no. But to be able to drop kick from that distance during a game? that is amazing.

You make some good points ranger. Just think that he's got much more to offer as a player than just taking pot shots at goal all the time. He did it v the Lions, and as a Lions supporter, I couldn't have been happier for him to do so, as there was not much chance of him succeeding, and it just relieved the pressure time and again.

There's no denying it's quite an amzing thing to watch, and to do, but he's just a little obsessed, no? In this particular case, there were men outside him and a slightly doglegged line coming up, why not set up another attack? Similar problem I have with players putting up the high ball all the time. I bloody hate Lee Byrne for his insistance on doing it (even if he's better than most at re-gathering).

I also hated Ruddock's /Johnson's insistence of having Henson taking pot shots at goal from distance in '05. That was slightly worse though, as they were from full penalties. They said they were 'shots for nothing, if they went over great, if not, nothign lost'. How about the 30-40m lost by not kickign to touch? Stupid!

Don't agree about a penalty being less impressive. There's big pressure on a penalty kick, espicailly one to win a game in the dying minutes. There is zero pressure on a pot shot drop goal with 'low risk' as you said. You don't see successfull penalty shots from the wrong side of half-way all that often, although they are becomingmore and more common due to the rediculously high standard of kicking there now is.

You make some good points ranger. Just think that he's got much more to offer as a player than just taking pot shots at goal all the time. He did it v the Lions, and as a Lions supporter, I couldn't have been happier for him to do so, as there was not much chance of him succeeding, and it just relieved the pressure time and again.

There's no denying it's quite an amzing thing to watch, and to do, but he's just a little obsessed, no? In this particular case, there were men outside him and a slightly doglegged line coming up, why not set up another attack? Similar problem I have with players putting up the high ball all the time. I bloody hate Lee Byrne for his insistance on doing it (even if he's better than most at re-gathering).

I also hated Ruddock's /Johnson's insistence of having Henson taking pot shots at goal from distance in '05. That was slightly worse though, as they were from full penalties. They said they were 'shots for nothing, if they went over great, if not, nothign lost'. How about the 30-40m lost by not kickign to touch? Stupid!

Don't agree about a penalty being less impressive. There's big pressure on a penalty kick, espicailly one to win a game in the dying minutes. There is zero pressure on a pot shot drop goal with 'low risk' as you said. You don't see successfull penalty shots from the wrong side of half-way all that often, although they are becomingmore and more common due to the rediculously high standard of kicking there now is.

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The thing is that the Southern Hemisphere has always been about that counter-attack, the free space is something the likes of Christian Cullen has thrived on. That has bought on a huge defensive focus of shutting down the counter-attack, the defenders have used the space against them in that if they get tackled its an easy pilfer because the counter-attacker's forwards have to come all the way back and and turn around.
It was getting to the point down here where if you chose to run back a kick you were most likely to lose possession or get penalised for holding on. This lead to up and under technique being overdone by everyone, it was only a small chance of recovering the kick, but at least you gain some ground and you are more likely to retain possession that way than if you are tackled.
So everyone down here is catching the ball around their 22 or 10 metre line and putting up bombs, then along comes Steyn who catches it and dropkicks it, he gains a shitload of ground or banks 3 points. Brilliant. I wouldn't be surprised if Styen was continuously told by his coaches to ignore the counter attack and just keep trying the dropkicks, it would be a hard habbit to get out of.

Im still not overly convinced that its such a bad tactic. Think about it, it either misses and goes dead, in which case they dropkick it back and you're in the same spot. Or it misses short and they kick it back and your in the same spot. I dont see how that relieves pressure for the opposition?

The difference between that penalty kick and that dropkick was that no matter how much pressure is on, pretty much all kickers in world rugby are capable of making that penalty kick. That is if you gave them 100 goes at it, they would probably slot one. I can not think of any other players in world rugby that could bang a dropkick that far, even if you gave them 1000 shots at it. Thats what makes that dropkick more impressive for me, Steyn is a physical freak of Lomu proportions. Not a great rugby player, but still an awesome physical specimen

Edit: Also you mentioned that successful penalty goals from the wrong side of halfway don't happen very often, Frans Steyn slotted 3 of them in a single game to down the All Blacks at home. 2 from about 60 metres and one from 53ish. Kid can kick a ball alright.

Well there wasn't that much pressure, winning the game by a point wasn't going to do Cardiff any good anyway. If it was to put Munster outside 7 points of you twould've been a different matter.

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Fair point.

@ ranger. Agree with just about all of that. I've found things have improved hugely regarding attacking player getting penalised for holding on with the introduction of the tackling player releasing the player before grappling. It gives support a little extra time to get to the breakdown and secure ball. Also think refs are favouring the attacking team, whearas for a while they jest seemed obsessed with penalising a player for getting slightly isolated. This has resulted in a bit more counter attacking rugby being played, although still not enough for my liking.

Regarding the relieving pressure bit. I personally think momentum has a very big influence on a game of rugby. A ball going dead, just hands posetion to the opposition, even if for just 1 min while they prepare to re-start from the 22. Can sometimes be a good thing though if your team has been on the backfoot. Not a huge point really.

There are a number of reasons why people dont like Steyn, My personal reaosdn is he is not a team player, it is about him scoring. this is well exmapled with his attempts of drop kicks rather than passing it out or attempting to counter attack.

If you want me to show an equivalent of a 22 year old now or of anybody in the past who has perfomed as he did by the age of 22?